Tartt’s ‘Goldfinch’ Doubles Sales Following Pulitzer Win

As expected, sales for the Pulitzer Prize fiction winner, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, spiked in the week following the announcement of the prize. According to Nielsen BookScan, the book sold 15,079 copies last week, compared to 7,095 the week before the Pulitzer win, good for a 113% increase.The Goldfinch has sold over 407,000 copies to date on BookScan. Publisher Little, Brown reported that total Goldfinch sales–print and digital combined–are nearing 1.5 million and that it has gone back to press for another 150,000 copies.

The Goldfinch, because of its popularity before winning the prize, saw a much smaller percent increase than previous fiction winners–but is still selling copies on a much larger scale than recent winners. 2013’s fiction winner, The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson, saw a 500% increase after it won the Pulitzer, but went from 413 copies to 2,477 at outlets that report to BookScan.